


The Bigger Frog

by gladsomemind



Series: Scenes From Lives Never Lived [5]
Category: Highlander: The Series, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen, Post Episode: s02e06 Trinity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 13:17:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16975287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gladsomemind/pseuds/gladsomemind
Summary: Traditional Management Advice states that if your job involves eating a frog do it at the start of the day then it’s over with.  If your job calls for eating two frogs – eat the bigger one first.Rodney had a lot of frogs to eat after the explosion.





	The Bigger Frog

The corridors on Atlantis didn’t have a lot to differentiate them particularly here in the tower.  John would probably drone on about how the tower was essentially a military compound and the uniformity made it harder for invaders to find their way around with the lack of land marks to orient themselves with.

Kavanaugh claimed it was done on the cheap by a designer on some Ancient TV show so they could get away with building one set and filming from different angles.

Either way this wasn’t one that Rodney generally bothered with. Residential quarters for some of the scientists, not those on gate teams, and some of the generally Base based marines. Radek refused, point blank, to be on a gate team and tended to hibernate antisocially when not in the lab. Visitors were Not Welcome. This had been made clear to everyone within a month of arriving.

This needed to be done though.

Rodney had thanked Caldwell before they beamed back to Atlantis and sent an email so there was hard evidence of the appreciation. He’d sat through an hour of smug lecture from Elizabeth about how she was right and Rodney needed to do what he was told rather than blow up galaxies.

John would come later. This was the apology that needed to come first. Radek didn’t warrant the vitriol Rodney had spewed. He wouldn’t have deserved it even if he’d been wrong and Rodney right rather than the reverse. One good thing about Elizabeth’s lecture was it had given him time to work out his approach.

It was an approach that hadn’t accounted for his de facto second in command answering the door wearing no jacket and only one sock.

He’d obviously stood staring at the naked foot too long when Radek barked at him to snap him out of his stupor. “What do you want Rodney?”

There was a moment when all the careful planning came together. This wasn’t it. This was clearly an excellent example of why no one should ever knock on Radek’s door. The growl in his voice conveyed admirably the notion that the person you were disturbing was capable of making your life a living hell and, although Rodney was perfectly able to reinstate his hot water and plumbing functions that shit took time and, well… yeah.

“Can I come in for a minute?” Having disturbed his evening already Rodney didn’t want to have this conversation in the hallway where anyone walking to their quarters might see.

“Oh let him in. The record for keeping a straight face is two point four minutes.” Walker’s voice came from behind Radek, whose face broke into a grin at the words. Not going for any sort of record, Radek stepped backwards and made a grand flourishing gesture allowing Rodney ingress.

The spluttering started immediately. Radek’s quarters were warmer than the normal Atlantis ambient temperature, explaining the lack of jacket.  Walker was also wearing only one sock.

And nothing else but a pair of boxers.

The doctor lay stretched out like a preshoot playgirl model, a display of musculature that only the marines who spent all of their off time in the gym could hope to match. Good god he’d give Ronon a run for his money!

Rodney didn’t know quite what to say to this visual bounty. It was all he could do to keep his eyes on the upper half of his body. A litany of Katie, Katie, Katie tried to get started in his head but kept getting interrupted by ‘what!’

A cough from Radek finally had Rodney jerking his eyes up to Walker’s grinning face. Someone else who hadn’t made it to any mythical record. The bastard winked at Rodney then pushed himself up to a standing position and made his way over to the kitchen area. He then proceeded to lean against the counter displaying like a demented peacock as he sipped on a cup of coffee.

“I’m interrupting.” The conversation needed to be got moving, not that this would necessarily help.

A snort came from behind him but Walker just shrugged. “Games night. Truth or Strip Speed Chess.” The chess board and the clocks came into focus at the words. “I’m determined to get all of Radek’s secrets.”

“But not yours?” Rodney wasn’t certain if Debrett’s had a section on what to do if you interrupt foreplay but this probably wasn’t part of the recommended actions.

“I have no secrets. Totally open book.” The man could lie with the straightest of faces. Rodney could have been taken if it wasn’t for Radek laughing behind him. And all the evidence to the contrary from every interaction they’d had so far. “But I’ll leave you to your conversation for a few minutes.”

Walker pushed off the counter and both the physicists watched him walk away to the bedroom and close the door with a wink.  Leaving the two men in an awkward silence.

It took a moment before Rodney managed to pluck up the courage to say his piece but it wasn’t going to get any easier and the Czech might actually kill him if he continued to interrupt whatever was going on here.

“I wanted to offer you second author spot on the write up of this…experiment.” Radek just looked at him as if to say ‘this is what you have disturbed me for?’ “For accusing you of trying to steal my Nobel Prize?” Rodney wished he didn’t sound so unsure but didn’t know how to explain where he was coming from.

“You think I care about that?” Radek sounded disgusted at the suggestion. “A Nobel Prize?” Do you really think that I don’t know that if I ever ended up on that stage in Oslo and you weren’t standing next to me it would be because you were dead?” He threw his hands up into the air. “Or if you were there without one or both of me or Kavanaugh is because the work predates our meeting or _we_ were dead?

“You collaborate Rodney. You collaborate a lot. You are even very good at it. What happened today wasn’t the fault of your collaboration skills. It wasn’t even that you do not listen! Do you want to know what the problem with today was? Do you!”

The smaller man was ranting by this point and Rodney could only nod at the question, registering Walker’s return out of the corner of his eye.

“The problem today was Doctor Weir.”  Rodney was shocked. Today wasn’t Elizabeth’s fault.  How could it be?

“We found something that we thought could help the galaxy in fighting the Wraith. Colonel Caldwell looked at the potential benefits both here and at home. Yes for its military applications but also for its civilian ones. The potential was such that it was right that we pursued it.

“The entire science department was behind you. We were all, including Collins, there because we wanted to be. After the accident, and it was an accident Rodney you didn’t deliberately force anyone into harm’s way, we needed to stop and regroup. To go over the data a hundred times but Doctor Weir wasn’t prepared to give us that – because Colonel Caldwell supported the project. We weren’t given the opportunity to step back and do the mathematics. It had to be done now or not at all. We weren’t allowed to work on it.

“You cannot do everything Rodney, you are not a god. You had to beg to try and bring something good to fruition and were expected to do it in five minutes. Yes you should have listened to me when I told you that there was an issue. But I should have been telling you in our lab here on Atlantis where you could check my work for yourself.

“You needed time and you were not allowed to have it because Doctor Weir wanted it to fail, was happy it failed and now holds it over your head. That is not your fault.  It is not my fault.”

The other man took a deep breath. “However, you were rude to me on an open frequency. You embarrassed me, yourself and by extension the entire science team. You were rude, so I am angry and don’t wish to speak to you. I will take the second spot and will see you tomorrow and it will be alright. For now, go.” Radek waved his hand at the door in dismissal and Rodney turned to go without saying anything else, overjoyed to be escaping with so unscathed.

“Goodnight Alia, sleep tight.” Walker had to have the last word and Rodney smiled in relief.  If even the voodoo priest understood, through a closed door the eavesdropping bastard, what Rodney meant in his offer to Radek then his fellow genius would also have understood. Collins would get first named author, Radek the second.  Rodney would take third and, ok so would Radek, forever be reduced to the ubiquitous et al. for any citation.  The work had failed but what they did learn could still produce discoveries down the line, even failure was important if it enabled people to learn. Just another shoulder of a giant.

It did have him turning to show his acknowledgement of the comment. With a nod he took his leave, “I’m off to find John. The last call of the evening.” A look passed between the other men. “I’ll see you in the morning Radek.”

The look became an entire conversation with the inclusion of eyebrows from Walker but it was Radek who spoke. “If you want.”

“Need.”

A head bob from the smallest man. “Need. To come back after - you are welcome to do so.”

“You can help Radek, he’s going to need it.” Radek’s eyebrows seemed to disappear into his hairline, clearly stating ‘which one of us nearly naked here, buddy; Walker was unrepentant. “I’ve been lulling him into a false sense of security and am about to spring my trap.  He’s going to need someone to commiserate with as I ride roughshod over his tactics.

Rodney had no idea where the offer came from.  Not after being told by Radek to leave. There was no reason he’d need to come back after talking to John. They were team. He certainly didn’t want to get in between whatever was going on here, Katie, Katie, Katie. Rodney had played the Czech a time or two at chess and they were pretty evenly matched, matched enough that their games had degenerated into something to do with their hands whilst their brains worked on, and they discussed, the latest problem to emerge in the thousands of years old city; the Doctor was clearly no threat to Radek’s honour.

“Goodnight.” With a round of head bobs and a grin, Rodney left them to it.  When the door closed behind him he shook his head and started on the search for the Colonel.

********

The main science lab was devoid of conversation. Rodney had arrived first, in a deliberate attempt not to make an entrance, and all of the other scientists seemed to be waiting with baited breath for Zelenka’s entrance, curious to see how the two men interacted. Another reason Rodney had wanted to get the apology out of the way in private, their relationship wasn’t really anyone else’s business as long as they were getting along.  If they weren’t Rodney had no doubt that it was the other man that would get the friends in the divorce.

The intake of breath from Simpson beside him was all the alert he needed to know the other man had arrived. Taking him at his word that this morning everything would be fine, Rodney only needed to make the first conversational gambit to reset the lab. Something simple and none contentious.

“Good morning Radek, did you win?” Perfect. A pleasant greeting with an allusion to a shared confidence that the others didn’t know about, what more could even Elizabeth do?

“Shut up Rodney.”

**Author's Note:**

> Like Methos wouldn't cheat at chess.


End file.
